Danbury boys, Darien girls win FCIAC track titles

Jon Chik

Published 9:01 pm, Wednesday, May 28, 2014

DANBURY -- It took a day longer than expected, but the Danbury boys and Darien girls eventually walked away with the 2014 FCIAC track championships.

"Our conference is an extremely competitive conference," Danbury senior Jeremy Price said. "Everybody in it is a really good athlete. It means everything to our team to be able to win today and to collectively leave with a championship under our belts."

"I would say we were probably underestimated (in the 4x400), and we pulled together and I was very proud of my girls," Darien senior captain Cassidy Stauffer said. "We did well, we were strong and we pushed through to the end, and I'm really just proud of my team in general."

Just five events shy of the meet's completion on Tuesday, thunder postponed the festivities until Wednesday afternoon at Danbury High School.

At first glance, the Danbury boys' 24-point lead over second-place Ridgefield appeared fairly safe, especially with just two events to go on Wednesday (the 3200 and the 4x400 relay).

Ridgefield, however, boasted 25 points in the 3200, and the Tigers took a one-point lead by the end of the event thanks to strong runs from several runners: Austin Gilbert in second place, William Bordash in third place, Gabriel Altopp in fourth place, Trevor Hopper in fifth place and Clint Corso in seventh place.

The 3200 was a record-shattering event, as the top five finishers all clocked in ahead of a 13-year-old record with Darien's Alex Ostberg easily winning the race and setting a new mark of 9:04.64. The previous record-holder was Ridgefield's Steve Muchetti, who crossed the line in 9:26.08 in 2001.

Ridgefield's one-point lead over Danbury heading into the 4x400 meant that the FCIAC crown would go to whichever team crossed the finish line first in the meet's final event.

And even when the race ended, it still wasn't clear which team would walk away with the title.

Danbury's Chazz Winter and Ridgefield's Johnathan Keating ran the final leg of the race, and a strong charge by Keating made it a photo finish, as both runners leaned forward to dive across the finish line, collapsing to the ground.

"That was scary. All you can do is hope for the best. Even if we did lose, it's okay because we all tried our best," Danbury senior captain Tyrice O'Connor said. "It was really close. It's not only meaningful for the seniors; it's meaningful for everyone who participated."

After a video review and several tense minutes, it was determined that the Danbury relay team of O'Connor, Price, Jonathan Bartley and Winter clocked in at 3:25.21, a hundredth of a second in front of Ridgefield.

"It's amazing when a season can come down to a hundredth of a second and when a season can come down to a lane is a special moment really," Danbury assistant coach Nick Fraticelli said. "It shows the intensity of track and field and it's very hard to put into words."

Following Danbury and Ridgefield in the top two spots with 141 and 140 points, respectively, were third-place Darien (89), fourth-place Brien McMahon (62) and fifth-place Norwalk (56).

"First of all, it was a pleasure to be part of a meet like this," Fraticelli said. "I was talking to the Ridgefield coaches, and they agree that this is one of the most intense meets we've ever been a part of. Even though it was a two-day meet, the excitement and intensity that both teams brought today was amazing."

According the seedings, the Darien girls team was the slight favorite to bring home the FCIAC title, but victory was certainly not a given.

The Blue Wave set the pace by scoring 118 points, followed by Staples (103), Greenwich (58.5), Ridgefield (47.5), Ludlowe (45) and Danbury (45).

Darien was led by Anna Sulger, who brought home the 200 and 400.

"We were able to beat Staples last week in the tri-meet, so I knew we had the edge," Darien coach Steve Norris said. "But last year we were the favorites going into this meet and we didn't win, so it was nice for everybody because everybody performed. I told the girls on the bus that if we performed at our seed levels that we were slight favorites, and we did that."

In addition to Ostberg's record-setting time in the 3200, two other FCIAC championship records were topped, starting with Westhill's Claire Howlett in the 1600. Howlett's time of 4:48.19 set a new standard, besting Staples' Hannah Delbasi's time of 4:54.59 in 2013. Howlett also won the 3200.

McMahon's Shnyden Pierre also set a new FCIAC championship record by clocking in at 47.78 in the 400, topping his old record of 48.67 in 2013. Pierre also claimed the 400.

Darien's Nick Lombardo was also a multi-event winner, taking first place in all three jumps: High jump, triple jump and long jump.

McMahon's Sarah Boyd brought home the 100 and 300 hurdles.

The top eight finishers in every event earned points, and the top six earned medals with the first and second place individuals claiming a spot on the All-FCIAC team.

All participants had to endure humid conditions on Tuesday, followed by chilly weather on Wednesday.

"Everyone has to deal with it and it's an equal playing field, but it was kind of hard coming back and trying to race again knowing that we had all these events to do," O'Connor said. "But everyone pulled through and did a great job."

"It was kind of crazy because we didn't know whether or not we would even get any races in yesterday, so it was really nice that it held off until the end," Stauffer said.

FCIAC teams will compete in various state tournaments on June 2-3, and the State Open is on June 9 at Middletown High School.

"Often times it is harder to win this than the class meet," Norris said. "Our league has been very strong, so doing well here puts us in a good frame of mind. If we do well here, the girls figure we can do well next week too."